BURBERRYLaura Navas Vicente

N0652897

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3INTRODUCTION 5MACRO ENVIRONMENT

8MICRO ENVIRONMENT 11SUPPLY CHAIN 13FINANCE 15RETAIL 17BRANDING

19MARKETING

23CONCLUSION AND RECCOMMENDATIONS 27APPENDIX 29LIST OF IMAGES 30REFERENCES

1.INTRODUCTIONBurberry – founded in 1856 - is a brand belonging to the Burberry Group PLC (1997), a public company with limited responsibility, worth £960.705.1141

in the financial market. The British company –based in London- runs its activity within the luxury fashion industry, a sector that was worth £26B in the UK in 2014 (The Telegraph, 2014), and currently employs almost 11K workers (Company Annual Statement 2014-2015) both full and part time. Nowadays Burberry offers a diversified range of products that englobe Women’s wear, Men’s wear, Children wear, Accessories and Beauty. Garments are divided into three sub collections: Burberry Brit, Burberry London and Burberry Prorsum. The first one is the one containing products at the entry level of the market. The price architecture of Burberry Brit could be considered affordable within the luxury segment. Burberry London is positioned higher in the luxury scale, offering products manufactured with better materials and design. The London collection is the middle brand within Burberry, just before Burberry Prorsum, the high-fashion collection designed by Christopher Bailey, the chief creative and executive of the firm. However, next year, following a statement by Bailey at the beginning of November 2013, the brand will unify the three lines under a unique brand named Burberry (Bloomberg).

Burberry sells to customers through four different channels: Retail (on-line and off-line), Wholesale and Licencing. In terms of revenues, retail makes £1.807M (14% more than the previous year) ahead of the £648M wholesale activity and £68M of licensing (Company Annual Statement 2014-2015). It is important to underlain that since 2006 the licensing activity of the brand has been decreasing until totally disappearing globally. The unique area where licensing is still operating is Japan. However, after ending the agreement with its licensing partner Sanyo Shokai Ltd in June this year, Burberry is likely to take the control of the management of the business in Japan and, therefore, around the world (Business of Fashion, 2015).

1Number of Shares x Price per Share = 444,770,886 (Company Shareholders’ Statement) x £2.16 (Bloomberg) = £960.705.114

In terms of customers, the target audience for Burberry is the millennial generation, people born between the early 80s and the beginning of the new century. Angela Ahrendts – former CEO of the company and current VP of Apple- made the decision of focusing on the young generation of customers as, in the near future, this age band will be the one with the economic power. The main aim has been positioning Burberry as a desirable brand for the greatest number of potential customers as possible, and the numbers show that the label has really achieved success. Moreover, having a solid unique selling point eases the way the market perceives the brand. In the case of Burberry, the British heritage and classic elegance of the product differentiates the Group from its main the competitors within the market: LVMH, Kering and Hermes International (Hoovers). The ability of blurring the line between the off-line, implementing an active strategy on social media platforms –appropriate for the target market - and the high rates of en-gagement are the elements that finalise the shaping the successful path of this luxury brand. See Appendix II

The aim of this report is to analyse the overall activity of Burberry from an objective point of view and find weak points that could be improved by the brand.

Methodology

Mainly secondary research has been used to conduct this brand analysis. Infor-mation has been extracted from diverse online journals and publications. The annual reports launched by the brand have also played an important role, and could be con-sidered the main source of information.In terms of primary research, a brief survey has been conducted in order to gain an overview of the general feeling of target customers about the brand. The survey was published on Facebook with the aim to target the Millennial generation. After a month of being posted, 42 answers were recorded, 14.3% males and 85.7% females.

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2. MACRO ENVIRONMENTThe PESTLE analysis is going to be used in order to analyse the external environment affecting the company:

POLITICAL

Regarding Political-Legal issues, three factors are most important. First of

all, the tense political relations between the UK and China because of the violation of human rights (The Guardian, 2015). Secondly, a possible agreement between the USA and the European Un-ion - Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership- could be effective in the near future. Such agreement could open the trading barriers between both regions and allow to a less regulated trade between the two regions (Independent, 2015). Finally, the taxes on luxury goods and the duties on imports and exports have an important role as it could reduce the benefits for any company operating abroad. In case of the approval of the before-mentioned TTIP, trades between the EU and the USA would have duties reduced or eliminated (European Commission, 2015). With regard to other countries, there are also Free Trade Agreements and other types of contracts to ease exports and imports.

ECONOMY

In broad terms, Europe is going to expe-rience recovery with low growth rates.

The progress is going to be reinforced by the depreciation of the Euro – supporting exports-, decreases in the price of oil barrel, low interest rates and an increase in the number of credits supplied by banks. (European Economic Forecast, 2015). The Eurozone is projected to grow 1.7% in the 2016-2017 period mainly because of euro weakness and low oil prices that should lead to higher consumer spending. (Glob-al Economic Prospects, 2015). In the BRICS (excepting China), growth is slow but consistent. China is set to experience a slowdown, from the 7.1% to the 6.9% by 2017. In order to hold the financial activity, People’s Bank of China has facilitated monetary and econom-ic policies regarding benchmarks and bonds. Meanwhile, Japan is estimated to pick up about a 1.7% growth ratio in 2016 thanks to ‘expansionary policies’ and fis-cal actions by the government in order to boost the economy. Both Americas are also undergoing small growth rates. South America is being deeply affected by self ‘microeconomics challenges’ while North America keeps up with an acceleration of its financial activity (Global Economic Prospects, 2015).

SOCIETY

In the following years, the percentage of people living on Earth between 15

and 64 years old will massively increase. Is estimated that by 2020, 5000M people will be in these ages ahead of the esti-mated 700M of people over 65 years old (Demographic Trends in the Context of the Global Thematic Consultation on Population Dynamics, 2015). Therefore, the young segment of customers will in-crease during the following years. In addi-tion, it is important to mention the grow-ing wealth gap between rich and poor people. By 2016 the 1% of the population will be wealthier than the other 99% (Ox-fam, 2015) and, by 2050, is predicted that there will not be any poor countries on Earth (CNBC, 2014). The preferences and behaviour of the consumer will continue changing due to the technological advances and the evolution of the economies. E-commerce will increase continuously and physical premises, both in luxury and affordable fashion- will decrease, as consumers will opt for the suitability of online shopping (Business of Fashion, 2014). See Appendix I

ENVIRONMENTAL

The awareness for the environment and the concern for a more

sustainable way of life have been increasing for the past century (The Huff-ington Post, 2014). Fashion is the second industry in the world that generates more pollution, just behind the oil business (Danish Fashion Institute). However, it seems that awareness is starting being raised among important players within the sector. Furthermore, the environment is not the only affected by the fashion activity. Important resources of materials are suffering the impact of the industry due to the massive use of the same. An example could be cashmere, which comes from the cashmere goats, mainly based in Mongolia and China. Due to climate change, these animals have difficulties to find their proper habitat and the amount and quality of the cashmere wool produced is suffering the consequences (Business of Fashion, 2015).

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TECHNOLOGICAL

The technological advances are constantly changing and evolving. The apparition of wearable technology and 3D

printing will surely make an impact on the way garments are produced and sold. New technologies also ease the communication of the brand to the consumers. Social media is already connecting the two parts much closer (streaming fashion shows are a clear example) but, in a near future, it is likely that the integration of the customer will be almost total. Technologies will be also affecting – if they are not already- the selling points. By now it is possible to sell via social media, and technologies are also being incorporated in retailing spaces.

In short, the luxury fashion industry is predicted to keep growing slowly, mainly supported by consumers from the Americas and Asia Pacific area (although the re-

cession in China’s consumption). The future demographics also benefit the industry, as the number of potential customers will be increasing in the next years. The application of new technologies in the selling points and the positive trends in the global econom-ics in the long term are also favourable for the industry.

3. MICRO ENVIRONMENT

Burberry conducts its activity in a very crowded, competitive business: the fashion industry. Within the sector, the brand in specialized in luxury premium clothes and

accessories. The appareal industry is easily accessible; that is, it is not difficult to set up a business around garments, textiles or accessories. So, it could be said that the threat of new entrants is relatively high. However, maintaining a position within the market is more complicated as the competition is tough. A successful fashion label needs to have its own strong identity in order not to be substituted by other similar labels. In the case of Burberry, its strongest competitors are major premium brands such as Coach, Armani and Gucci, all of them with solid vision and differentiation. Burberry has a weak threat of substitutive products as it has strong heritage and a focused British image that is one of its core differentiations. The power of customers in the fashion industry in mainly low. Just in cases when labels produce specifically for the customer these have major power. In the case of Burberry, customers’ power is weak as they cannot interfere in the price or any other issue related to it. In case of suppliers, its influence over the company is moderate. Burberry suppliers are located all across the globe and, as the brand has prime quality standards and trusts some specific providers, they have limited power over the negotiations with the label.

Burberry is, generally, weakly affected by its closer environment. Its big success within the industry allows the brand to have a sizable autonomy regarding issues that may affect its stakeholders.

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4. SUPPLY CHAIN Just to mention one of the most

important suppliers, Burberry was been working during more than 30 years with a local supplier from Peru that provides the company with the yarn needed to make the iconic trench coat (Burberry Product Targets).Burberry orders the production of raw materials based on sales forecast. The manufacturing of clothes is outsourced to factories mainly located in Europe and China operated by third party suppliers. It is important to highlight that the firm is committed to take factories back to Eng-land. Burberry has just invested £50M in Leeds to set a trench coat factory (Financial Times, 2015). Another positive relevant factor to customers and stake-holders is the big commitment Burberry has with the environment and fair labour. Indeed, all providers are required to work under the Group’s Ethical Trading Policy in order to set basic standards to labour management (Company Statement 2010-11). Something to point out is the fact that suppliers only receive compensation for their contribution once the raw mate-rials have been procured and the entire manufacturing process has been completed. That means that third parties have to finance the entire process of manufacturing (Tokatli 2010) and that Burberry has a sizable operation margin within the supply chain.

As one of the key operational activities of Burberry, the

Supply Chain is what the business relies on. There is no advantage – and profit so far- if the strategy applied to the logistics and distribution is not the proper one as there would be a large amount of loss; that is the reason why the compa-ny invests large amounts of funds on it every year in order to apply the latest in-novations and achieve the most efficient results. In order to acquire the raw materi-als that will compose the garments of the collections, Burberry uses two different methods: creating their own fabrics and acquiring materials directly from its suppliers (M. Moore, G. Birtwistle, 2004). For example, for the Burberry Lon-don collection, the firm conducts its own weaving process to generate the linings and fabrics that compose the pieces of clothing in this line. In the case of Burber-ry Prorsum, and some pieces of the Lon-don collection as well, the materials are obtained from specific suppliers trusted by the brand during many years. This pro-cess gives Burberry autonomy enough to trust suppliers without entirely compro-mising the production process.

All the factories that take part in the manufacturing of Burberry products, as said before, are manufacturers that agree to procure an ethical to the human labour force. According to the Burberry Human Rights Policy published on December 2014, the company is ‘’committed to respecting and safeguarding the human rights of all those lives that Burberry touches’’. In January 2014 Burberry an-nounced its commitment to eliminate all hazardous chemicals and products from its supply chain by January 2020 after be-ing allegedly accused by Greenpeace of using high levels of chemicals in children’s wear. Agreeing with Vogue UK, Green-peace analysed a purple shirt styled by Romeo Beckham in the Burberry-s 2013 campaign. This shirt, manufactured in Tur-key, was found to contain a high quantity of manmade materials commonly used to produce detergents. Burberry, after assuring that all the products belonging to the brand accomplish the safety and environmental standards announced the aforementioned elimination of danger-ous chemicals in the products.

However, despite having seen that Burberry claims to accomplish all the basic ethical standards, there is still evidence (The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 2012) that inform about the brand using chemicals and factories where human labour is not protected. Since the awareness for the environment is an increasing consumer trend for the future (Euromonitor International) it is important to the brand to adhere to and make happen the use of fair policies, both with labour and the environment.

Burberry World

Burberry World is a software launched in December 2013 with the ob-jective of integrating back end operations all across the supply chain, easing the process for Burberry’s stakeholders to ac-cess brand information. The performance is also supported by SAP software, software that has saved the company over £50M during the last years (Forbes, 2014).

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5. FINANCEBurberry is a company with solid fi-

nancial statements. During the last years, some aspects such as the recession of important economies have led to the need of new financial policies in order to keep the company in line with quality management and the wealth of the com-pany. However, there are external factors that cannot be controlled by Burberry that have major effects on their final benefits.

During the financial year 2015 – from March the 31st 2014 to the same date 2015- and despite of the slowdown of the Asian market, Burberry Group Plc earned revenues by a total amount of £2.523M, 8,3% more than in the previous period. If we divide the results by channels, Retail obtains the highest percentage of contribution, which goes up to a 71% (£1.807,4M). According to the Annual Statements of the firm, sales grew equitable between all product categories. As expected, prod-ucts with highest selling rates were the cashmere scarves and the heritage trench coat. In the Asia Pacific, where Retail meant the 85% of the total revenue, sales slightly grew in China and South Korea, and Japanese self-managed stores expe-rienced an increase of the sales by a 30%. In the EMEIA countries, half of the retail revenue earned were attributed to travel-ling luxury customers.

The growth in the number of sales increased due to both external and do-mestic customers, and accounted for 65% of the total sales revenue in the area. A net total of two stores were added during that period, 12 openings and 10 closures. New stores include some of the most im-portant airports in Europe as Barcelona, Milano and London. Keeping on trend with previous years, 65% of the revenues in the Americas came from retail, where local customers still purchased 90% of the sales. In the other side, wholesale input de-creased from 27% in 2014 financial year to 26% in 2015. The total revenue gen-erated by wholesales was £648,1M and came from sales of accessories and cloth-ing department stores and multi-brand stores, franchises, travel retail and sales of Beauty to 80 traders around the world. Licensing is the last revenue activity, with an input of £67.7M of the total sales. Around the 80% of the licensing sales came from global basic product licenses – watches, eyewear- in Japan (£53M) and European wholesale of children’s wear.

The final overview of the revenues is positive although it could be improved through re-focusing the operations in some key affected markets.

It has to be taken into account that there are factors modifying the end revenue value. Taxes and currency exchange are the most influential over the final values. Regarding the tax rates on adjusted profits, for the year 2015 the effective rate was 23.3% versus the 25.2% of the previous year, meaning a charge of £103.5M. Meanwhile, concerning currencies, the flow of the Swiss franc and the raise of the dollar damaged the company significantly. Also had the weakness of the euro during the last financial periods. It is possible that the substantial flows of cash will continue affecting the company in the following year 2016, with a predicted profit £40M less than what it was previously stated (Business Insider, 2015). The flow of the Swiss franc and the raise of the dollar have damaged the company. Also the weakening of the euro during the last financial periods. It is possible that the substantial flows of cash will continue affecting the company in the following year 2016, with a predicted profit £40M than what it was previously stated (Business Insider, 2015).

Finally, an important issue for in-vestors is the value per share. The 15th of October of this current year, the fact that Burberry shares were value-decreased by China low sales hit the market. Value per share fell down 8.1% to £13.04, the lowest value experienced since 2013, meaning the loss of a quarter of their price (Citiwire Money, 2015). After experiencing a constant decrease since January 2015, it is likely that the val-ue per share is going to follow the same pattern in the short term.

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6. RETAILBurberry, by 31st March 2015, owned

214 mainline stores, 213 concessions within store departments, 57 outlets and e-commerce channels (Burberry Annu-al Statements, 2014-2015). However, it is likely that the brand will reduce their number of stores during the current year 2015-2016 (Company Annual Statement 2014-2015). The retail scheme of Burberry is strong and improving every year due to the great amounts invested by the or-ganization (Company Annual Statement 2013-2014, 2014-2015). The strengths of its strategy start by owning the physical retail stores. The re-buy of license physical stores started back in 2006 when Angela Ahrendts became the executive CEO of the company, and kept going until June 2015, when Burberry brought forward the contract with Sanyio Shokai – licensing company in Japan- (G. Fasol, 2015). Therefore, the brand is facing a sizable challenge when planning a strategy to approach the Japanese market. Regarding the licensing activity, it is mainly focused on accessories and eyewear. The label is also beneficiated from concessions in important department stores such as Harrods and Amazon (on-line) (M. Moore and B. Birtwistle, 2004).

The integration of on-line and off-line is a key element driving Burberry to success and making the brand stand be-fore other important labels in terms of retail. Indeed, Burberry’s store in Regent Street in one of the most advanced in

terms of technological development in the whole UK (Marketing Magazine, 2012). In the store (121, Regent Street), there can be found tools such as 500 hidden speakers, 100 screens – including the biggest in-door screen in the world, 22 ft-high)- and, perhaps the most important, radio frequency identification. Every piece of garment has integrated a microchip that allows Burberry to display relevant information of the garment in its mirrors-turned-Into-screen (Marketing magazine, 2012). In the same way, all the retail premises around the globe are equipped with IPads in order to ease the experience for the customers. From these devises, customers are able to check availability of products in other stores and order them straight away, as well as to pay for products without needing to wait. The launch of the Customer Value management (CVM) is going to lead future investments. This new program, which has already been implanted in more than 300 stores over the world, allows Burberry to collect important data from their custom-ers that can be applied later on the de-sign of new products. At the same time, it engages customers offering one-to-one ‘communications with associates’, rec-ommendations about new products and the opportunity to attend events organ-ized by the brand. According to the chief customer officer Steve Sacks, there is 50% more chance that customers will purchase again from Burberry because of the CVM implemented (Steve Kaplan, 2015).

On the other side, Burberry is about to reduce the number of retail stores worldwide due to

the decrease in the sales revenue. This could mean the willingness to drive the strategy more focused in the online channels than in the physical retail stores. Also, areas such as the BRIC countries (excluding Chi-na) and other developing countries are still not pro-vided with accessible retail stores.

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7. BRANDING Other significant markets for Burb-erry are the Chinese and Japanese, which have already been approached by the marketing strategies. For example, during the last two years, Burberry has collabo-rated with important technological com-panies such as LINE and WeChat in order to offer live streaming shows to customers in Asia Pacific area (Annual Report State-ment 2014-2015). The opening of a flag-ship in Shanghai was surrounded by the event ‘Dreams of London’ bringing to the city the heritage and history of London (Annual Report Statement 2013-2014).

Burberry has been able to integrate its old customer perception with new tech-nologies such as social media in order to build a strong community of consumers. Indeed, it is one of the brands with more engagement in social media (almost 17M followers in FB and 210K subscribers on Youtube). However, is Burberry reaching the entire targetable amount of custom-ers?

South America and Africa are two geographical areas that should be more taken into account within the marketing strategies of the brand. Africa has been seen grow its wealthy class for the past three years and it is likely that grow will continue increasing in the future. By 2020 three out of four persons living in Africa will be around twenty years old and en-tering the labour for the first time (African Business, 2013). This fact foresees what could be the rise of the working class in Africa, with the belonging aspirational feelings. In Latin America, and according to Euromonitor, the luxury market will have grown over 88.8% in 2019 (Business Insider, 2015). Consequently, there are two important sizable regions where lux-ury is growing that should be approached in order to reach future possible custom-ers.

Burberry is the ultimate British fashion brand. Elegant, Classic,

Expensive and British are only some of the words that are used to describe the brand by potential customers2. After analysing the data from the primary research conducted, it happens that all the registered answers have similar adjectives and attributes for Burberry. It is not surprising that Burberry has one of the most solid branding strategies from the current luxury fashion scene.

After recovering from the difficult pe-riod in the early 2000s meant the com-pany, Burberry was able to build a per-sonalized image to create a distinguished and recognizable brand around the word. The two most positive aspects that were undertaken were, firstly, re-focusing the brand into ‘’a more youthful market’’. As long as the 60% of the people around the world are under 30 years old, it is also the segment where most of the future cus-tomers are. (Fortune, 2012). Secondly, integrating the Group’s whole vision, lo-cating back to London main operational activities such as design, advertising and fashion shows (previously hosted in Mi-lan). “There’s only one brand. The more consistent we are, the more aligned [we can be]” (Angela Ahrendts).

2 Based on 34 answers - primary research conducted by the author

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8. MARKETINGStrongly linked to the branding sec-

tion, marketing is a key element of the success experienced by the brand in the last decade. Targeting and approaching the customers appropriately are the foundations for a solid marketing strategy, leader in an industry where the way customers understand brands is essential for the business. In order to analyse the overall marketing plan of Burberry, the strategy has been divided according to the Mar-keting Mix model of the 4Ps (Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy).

PRODUCT The two most iconic products made by Burberry are the trench coat and the cashmere scarf. Both products are reinvented and confectioned every year introducing the latest fashion trends in the market. However, these garments keep symbolising the British heritage that defines Burberry and positions the brand in the market. On the other hand, the products offered by the label may be quite monotonous as the range of products fluctuates between stablished garments and styles. All the products included in Burberry’s product range – Woman, Man, Kids and Make-up- enhance the quality and elegance, and are comprised in a price architecture that goes from £160 in the Burberry Brit Collection to £79.000 in the Burberry Prorsum Line (process for clothes available at Burberry.com). The fact that there are three different collections within the same brand could lead to confusion for some customers.

PRICE As mentioned before, the prices vary from affordable to luxury. The strategy applied in the range of prices leads to broadening the brand to the most customers as possible. Some products, mainly accessories and garments belonging to the Burberry Brit collection, make the brand accessible for those customers willing to buy from the label but unable to afford to purchase Prorsum. At the same time, with high prices in the most luxurious collection, Burberry offers exclusivity to its customers and increase the value perceived by the customers (V. A. Zheitaml. 1988). A remarkable fact is the price of the Burberry Trench Coat, starting at £900 when made in England and, with the same features, at £550 when manufactures out-side the UK. The increase in the number of England-made trench coats during the latest periods (Company Annual Statement 2013-2014, 2014-2015) makes noticeable the fact that customers are willing to pay more for quality, herit-age British products.

PROMOTION Many channels and strategies are used by Burberry in order to increase the knowledge of the brand, but all of them involve transferring to customers the im-age of British heritage. Different elements are involved in the promotion of the brand, from English celebrities and artists to social media. What makes Burberry successful is having been able to put all the promotion and branding strat-egies together in order to send a clear message to customers.

PLACE Knowing how important for a brand is to be located to the scope of customers, Burberry has achieved a balanced mixture between physical and on-line stores. This way, a larger number of customers can be approached as long-term costumers that may not be used to on-line shopping can keep going to physical premises while more tech-savvy buyers can purchase directly in the website. Burberry stores are located mainly in big shopping cities such as London, Singapore and Barcelona, and concessions in department stores such as Harrods. Lately, the brand has increased its presence in important airports, as these premises are becoming an important channel for luxury sales (Company Annual Report 2014-2015). However, Burberry should focus on areas where the brand is not as accessible as it should be. As mentioned before, South America and Africa are economic growing areas that should Regarding the on-line presence, Burberry can be found in luxury websites as Mytheresa.com and Net-a-porter.com, as well as in its own company site.

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Social Media

Burberry has a strongly defined im-age on Social Media platforms such

as Facebook and Instagram. The number of customers or target audience engaged in the communities has been increasing unstoppably, reaching 17M likes on Face-book, 5,1M followers on Instagram, 220K subscribers on YouTube and 5.11M fol-lowers on Twitter. However, there are two facts that should be taken into account in order to improve social media performance. First one, and despite the high rates of en-gagement in the social media, there are still possible customers that stay out of the reach of the brand due to Internet accessibility or language. Secondly, some ads have been seen lately on Facebook that are not at the level of a luxury brand as Burberry. There are other tools in so-cial media that can be used such as later-al adds and page promotion rather than sales promotion in the feed to target cus-tomers.

Interactive campaigns

One of the key facts regarding the marketing strategy is that Burberry knows how to interact with the customer and how to make customers interact with each other. In the most recent campaign (No-vember 2015), Burberry has collaborated with Google to launch a ‘Bespoke film ex-perience’, where customers can appear in the last fashion film unveiled by the film, thanks to the Burberry Booth – 121 Re-gent Street flagship store-. Customers can now appear in the new campaign side to side with Naomi Campbell or Sir Elton John and share the video via Facebook, YouTube or e-mail. Previous campaigns include Burb-erry Kisses (2014), where internet users could send their loved ones a ‘real kiss’ or ‘From London with Love’, starring Romeo Beckham. Long-term campaigns are also be-ing run such as The Art of Trench and Burberry Acoustic. The aim of these cam-paigns is to approach and engage cus-tomers with actions one-step further than fashion.

Burberry advert on Facebook

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After the analysis, it can be stated that the Burberry Group PLC is a healthy

company with great future expectations. Since the change of direction back to 2006, Burberry has known how to re-brand the label and position itself among the top luxury fashion brands of the mar-ket. A differentiated unique selling point, an engaging marketing strategy and a defined target of customers make Burb-erry a successful brand leader in the fash-ion industry. However, there are still issues that should be improved in order to adapt to new trends regarding customers’ prefer-ences and the environment. In first place, Burberry should make sure that all the subcontracted factories treat employees following the Human Rights Policy. More controls could be carried in order to assure work labour is treated fairly and penalties could be imposed to workshops that not follow the standards. Buyers in charge of dealing directly with the owners of the factories could be em-powered in order to demand and impose the aforementioned requirements.

9. CONCLUSION AND RECCOMMENDATIONS

Following with the supply chain, the brand should be aware of the impact its activity has on the environment and aim to diminish the effect. Apart from the scarci-ty of raw materials, the gasses emitted to the atmosphere are a main environmen-tal point to take into account. To decrease the pollution by the company, Burberry could follow the steps of the LVMH group and set ‘carbon fund’, based on donating to the fund a stablished quantity of mon-ey every determined tons of carbon pro-duced. The money raised goes directly to finance projects with the aim pf reducing the emissions of the company. Regarding retail, the company seems to decrease the number of physical stores in the upcoming years. Increasing the presence in airports is positive as the number of consumers willing to spend on luxury while travelling will keep going up in the future. Burberry should also take into account the forecast for the grow-ing economic areas in the future: South America and Africa. It could be a great step to enter the market before compet-itors and stablish a strong relationship with customers from these geographical areas.

If Burberry chose to address the busi-ness to Latin America and Africa, it should be taken into account that there are ma-jor cultural and language shifts that should be faced in order to engage the audience. Marketing campaigns should be adapted to the preferences of the new customers and so should Burberry’s social media posts. The content and the language should be engaging enough to each segment of cus-tomers. Thus, it could be an effective strat-egy to start posting in different languag-es in the different social media profiles of Burberry. Specific campaigns could be also launched during remarkable dates in these countries following the same pattern as the Christmas campaigns ‘From London with Love’ and the last festive campaign cele-brating Billy Elliot.

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10. APPENDIXAppendix I

Appendix II

Appendix III

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Survey available: http://goo.gl/forms/JWjulNrJsn

Relevant Results

Appendix IV

11. LIST OF IMAGES 12. REFERENCES2015 General Shareholders Annual Meeting2015. [online]. Burberry Group PLC. Available at: http://www.burberryplc.com/investor_relations/shareholder_information/shareholder_meetings [Accessed 30/11 2015].

BRBY:LN2015. [online]. Bloomberg Business. Available at: http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/BRBY:LN [Accessed 30/11 2015].

BURBERRY GROUP PLC Competition2015. [online]. Hoovers. Available at: http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/competition.BURBERRY_GROUP_PLC.568942f83f8b3cfb.html [Accessed 1/12 2015].

Abiven, K., 2015. Latin America has the fastest growth rate for billionaires of any region on earth. Business Insider UK [online], , 7/11/2015. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/afp-covet-ed-and-criticized-latin-americas-rich-multiply-2015-6?r=US&IR=T .

Abnett, K., 2015. Solving the Cashmere Crisis. Business of Fashion [online], , 8/12/2015. Available at: http://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/solving-the-cashmere-crisis .

Ahrendts, A., 2013. Burberry’s CEO on Turning an Aging British Icon into a Global Luxury Brand. Har-vard Business Review [online], (February 2013), 29/10/2015. Available at: https://hbr.org/2013/01/burberrys-ceo-on-turning-an-aging-british-icon-into-a-global-luxury-brand .

Alexander, E., 2014. Burberry Responds To Toxic Chemical Claims. Vogue UK [online], , 2/11/2015. Available at: http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2014/1/24/burberry-childrenswear-romeo-beck-ham-shirt-contains-toxic-chemicals .

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Laura Navas VicenteN0652897MA FASHION MARKETING

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